By Michael Plouffe | March 12, 2019 The US has published its objectives for a proposed trade agreement with the UK – and its thinking highlights just how weak Britain’s bargaining position will be in the post-Brexit global economy. The US trade representative outlines many of the usual ways to increase trade between the two… Read More »
By Jimmie Lenz | March 11, 2019 New findings from the New York Federal Reserve reveal that millennials have now racked up over US$1 trillion of debt. This troubling amount of debt, an increase of over 22 percent in just five years, is more than any other generation in history. This situation may leave you… Read More »
By Giovanni Di Lieto | February 28, 2019 It’s hard to tell if Donald Trump’s trumpeting of “substantial progress” in trade talks, leading to a cosy weekend at Mar-a-Lago to sign a deal with Chinese president Xi Jingping, represents reality. Most observers, though, will be relieved by his decision to again defer his threat to… Read More »
By Carmen Raluca Stoian | February 22, 2019 Ever since the EU referendum of 2016, well-known companies have announced decisions to relocate outside of the UK. Electronic giant Panasonic has gone to Amsterdam, where Sony will soon follow. Ferry company P&O will shift registration of its vessels to Cyprus, while the engineering firm Dyson is moving… Read More »
William D. Lastrapes | February 14, 2019 The U.S. federal government’s debt load hit another milestone this month: It’s now a record US$22 trillion in nominal terms. That’s $67,000 for every man, woman and child living in the U.S., and it’s up $2 trillion since President Donald Trump took office in 2017. For comparison, U.S.… Read More »
Andrew Graham | February 13, 2019 As Canada’s federal government starts looking for a replacement for its failed payroll system and the Ontario provincial government launches yet another major shake-up of its health-care system, it’s useful to remind decision-makers of a long history of failures in major public sector implementations. Research from around the world… Read More »
By Kevin Judge | February 5, 2019 In a NY Times op-ed today, Senators Charles Schumer and Bernie Sanders came out with a brilliant idea. They propose that we should limit, by law, stock buy backs to socially responsible companies that meet government specified wage and benefit requirements! Stock buy backs are when a public… Read More »
By Richard Brody | February 4, 2019 On a recent vacation, in Puerto Plata, in the Dominican Republic, I noticed, the cost of gasoline, at the service stations. In a nation, where incomes are relatively low, it struck me, how high, gas prices were. In that nation, I wondered, how, anyone could afford, paying the equivalent of about,… Read More »
By Nisha Bellinger and Byunghwan Son | February 4, 2019 Democracy is at risk worldwide. And the economy may be, too. Seventy-one out of the world’s 195 countries saw their democratic institutions erode in recent years, according to the 2018 year-end report by democracy watchdog Freedom House, a phenomenon known as “democratic backsliding.” Signs of backsliding… Read More »
By Kevin Judge | February 1, 2019 Spectacular job and wage report this morning! For the second month in a row new jobs are 80% higher than the consensus forecast. Anyone betting on a recession this year has got the wrong horse. I have a close friend who’s a senior manager are a major Financial… Read More »